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Hidden Homeless Students — Identifying Them Helps Everyone
Rudimentary math lesson gauges district performance in ID-ing students experiencing homelessness
School personnel share common frustrations:
absenteeism, chronically tardiness, lethargic learners, disruptive behavior, disorganized/unprepared students, seemingly disinterested parents, unpaid fees and unreturned forms.
One underlying cause of the above — homelessness. Unfortunately, many schools struggle to identify students experiencing homelessness. So the above frustrations fester. Unnecessarily.
Having visited school districts across the country for the past 15 years in my work for HEAR US Inc., I’ve chronicled stories of families and youth experiencing homelessness. I’ve seen both exemplary and inadequate efforts to comply with the federal law, McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Act (MV EHCY), that I helped update back in 2002.
My work as a shelter director put me in contact with plenty of families and youth trying to maintain their educational access and stability. Illinois passed the Illinois Education of Homeless Children Act in 1994, the basis of the MV EHCY 2002 reauthorization. I was intricately involved in those efforts, and have worked since then…
